VIDEO: Quebecers play it safe with Parti Québécois minority

Riding a wave of voter discontent with the tired nine-year Liberal regime but not ready to totally trust the Coalition Avenir Québec, Quebecers played it safe Tuesday.

With counting nearly complete, the Parti Québécois got enough seats to form a minority government with — despite the most dire predictions — a strong Liberal opposition to keep it in check.

At 10:45 p.m., the PQ was leading or elected in 56 of the province’s 125 ridings, followed by the Liberals with 48, 19 for the CAQ and two for Québec solidaire.

Although together the other parties have more seats, the PQ — as the party with the most seats — forms the government.

The popular vote is also telling: a score of 32 per cent for the PQ is hardly the stuff to build a country on.

The Liberals were right behind with 31 per cent; the CAQ had 27 per cent, yet only 19 seats.

With such close scores, the startling reality is that the left-wing Québec solidaire, which elected Amir Khadir in Mercier and its new star, Françoise David, in Gouin, will wield considerable power, either propping up the PQ or putting the brakes on some of its ideas.

Québec solidaire, for example, is a sovereignist party but disagrees with the PQ plan to block francophone students from attending English-language CEGEPs.

For PQ leader Pauline Marois, it is a dream fulfilled in the sense she becomes the first woman premier of Quebec.

A mother of four who earned the nickname the “concrete woman” for surviving her own rebellious party all these months, the 63-year-old Marois was among the first declared elected, in her home riding of Charlevoix.

Premier Jean Charest, a man known for rolling the dice politically, lost his gamble but — in true Liberal blue-sky philosophy — will be able to describe it as an honourable defeat.

But by press time, Charest had lost in his home riding of Sherbrooke, leaving question marks about his future since so much of the campaign was built around him.

Worse, the kick in the teeth comes on a Sept. 4 — Charest was first elected to public office in Sherbrooke on Sept. 4, 1984.

But the most disappointed Tuesday was the greenhorn CAQ, which despite closing in on the 27-per-cent level of votes identified in the polls, failed to cash in on actual seats.

Star CAQ candidate Jacques Duchesneau, the corruption whistleblower at the heart of the CAQ strategy, won in Saint-Jérôme, but former medical specialist president Gaétan Barrette lost in Terrebonne.

Bitter, Barrette tweeted: “The president has left the building. And will not be back.”

As for CAQ leader François Legault, who won in L’Assomption, this is not where he wanted to be: stuck with limited power and money in a third opposition party.

One of reasons Legault quit the PQ in the first place is because he felt frustrated he couldn’t do anything.

The PQ elected some of its new stars, student leader Léo Bureau-Blouin in Laval-des-Rapides and PQ referendum strategist Jean-François Lisée in Rosemont.

Still, the results are a blow to the PQ, which will not have the free hand it dreamed of to set Quebec on the path to statehood.

With such strong and disparate opposition, Marois will face an uphill battle every day.

For example, in her first 100 days in office, Marois had planned to scrap Bill 78 limiting demonstrations, cancel the Liberal tuition increases and re-write Bill 101, the French Language Charter.

On that front, the PQ wanted to limit access to CEGEPs, require small business with fewer than 50 employees to work in French and create a new secularism policy that would ban religious symbols in the public sector.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The PQ’s wanted to build up support for a third sovereignty referendum that would be held when the PQ believed it could win it.

Support for the option remains at the 35- to 40-per-cent range, but with 32 per cent of the popular vote, it’s clear the PQ has a big sales job on its hands.

It has drafted a so-called “sovereignty-governance” plan that amounts to governing Quebec as a nation and provoking fights with the federal government by asking for powers it knows it won’t get.

It’s unclear whether Marois will be able to do that with the Liberal and CAQ on patrol.

“Better to win a minority than lose,” former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe mentioned late Tuesday.

Later, in an interview with TVA, Lisée and elected candidate Bernard Drainville downplayed the PQ setback, saying Marois is a natural consensus builder and will be able to negotiate with the other parties.

Marois, who holds her first news conference Wednesday, will have to answer how she expects to govern in such a context.

And she may have another problem, with analysts already speculating on how long it will take PQ hardliners to start jockeying for Marois’s job.

And so ends the summer election that nobody really wanted but which was anything but boring in the end.

For the first time, the result was less of a split between Montreal Island and the rest of Quebec. Campaigns played out differently in each region, leaving pundits puzzled.

Charest launched the campaign on Aug. 1 in what some called a reckless gamble. Trailing in the polls, he was saddled from the start with a 70-per-cent level of dissatisfaction in his government.

But he estimated he had a better chance now than after the Charbonneau Commission into allegations of corruption and collusion got rolling.

He argued an election was the place to settle, once and for all, the student tuition crisis. The election, he said, would be a choice between the street with Marois and democracy and law and order with him.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.